The Changeling

The Changeling

Director ~ Peter Medak

Writers ~ Russell Hunter, William Gray, Diana Maddox

1980, Canada

Stars ~ George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas

‘The Changeling’ terrified me as a kid. It gleefully presents all the essentials that make this both stereotypical and reassuringly pure haunted house material, complete with a hidden room full of cobwebs, self-playing pianos and the obligatory music box. But there’s also the banging, the ball, the séance, the wheelchair. These have surely become as iconic as head-turning Linda Blair or the demonic face from ‘Night of the Demon’ for horror fans.

Perhaps the pacing would feel a little slow to younger audiences, but it’s also determinedly adult and uncondescending (which can’t be said of the ‘Insidious’ and ‘The Conjuring’ universes), for which much can be credited to George C. Scott’s sober treatment of a grief-stricken man who believes that mourning has made him receptive to the ghost of the house he rents. It’s this angle that appealed to Scott, not the supernatural, and this makes him more a detective rather than broken by the haunting. This also meant that Robert Ebert didn’t find him a character to worry about, and that may be true but it also means that the mystery of the haunting is foregrounded without distraction. Similarly, John Russell’s relationship with Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere, Scott’s wife) is defined by friendship rather than romantically inclined, which also adds a layer of maturity. Such emphasis makes this a Gothic Ghosthouse Ride rather than psychologically tinged.

The ghost itself turns out to be highly vindictive, visiting retribution for the sins of the father on someone that really is blameless… it’s not even clear how much he knew or how much of a cover-up has taken place. Those with wealth and power are the typical villains in such scenarios, but Senator Melvyn Douglas is surely a little undeserving and giving the ghostly vengeance an edge of cruelty. That cruelty appeals to my sense that one of the tenets of the horror genre is injustice as much as bloodletting. This makes the vengeful spirit a little more ‘Ringu’ and ‘The Grudge’, but that isn’t how the film feels to be playing it.

‘The Changeling’ is a seminal late example of Seventies Spookers (yes yes, 1980), even if below other titans such as ‘The Omen’, ‘The Exorcist’ ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, etc. When Scott drives up to a humungous mansion (a false front) with tinkly piano, ominous strings and thunder rolls, it’s comfort food for fans of this era’s hauntings. Peter Medak lets the lenses and camerawork do the melodramatics, for it is formal skill here rather than crash-bang jump-scares or exploitation that have the effect. It’s classy, classic, classical, cliché, and retains its credentials as an unsettling spookhouse.